Why The Debt Ceiling Matters

In poll after poll, I hear that a majority of Americans don't want the debt ceiling raised. Apparently, I wouldn't want a majority of Americans balancing my checkbook either. If there was ever a better argument against direct democracy, this is it.

What is direct democracy you ask? California is the best example where citizens vote on everything from tax hikes to gay rights to legalization of pot. The end result is always the same: nothing gets accomplished. As a result, California is swimming in debt partially caused by the people who live there. In their defense, who can blame them, as no one wants higher taxes. On the flip side, they apparently don't want schools, police or firefighters, all of which are based on, GASP, socialistic ideas.

But this is why we have politicians because, when it comes right down to it, alot of US citizens are really, really clueless when it comes to government and what it does exactly. These are the same brainpowers that hold up signs like "Keep your government hands off my Medicare," "Obama is not a US citizen," and my personal favorite, "Obama is a Nazi, socialist, Commie," nevermind the fact that they are very different types of government that in no way resemble each other. Thanks Glenn Beck for making mankind dumber. And this is exactly why complex issues need politicians to make them, because the American people never will.

Then we get to the debt ceiling, which every Tom, Dick and Harry seems to be an expert on it until questioned when you discover they know less about it than nuclear fission and advanced calculus. Here's how the debt ceiling works. The US has a finite amount of money to spend. Think of it as a checking account. As of May 16th, we have overdrawn the checkbook. Through creative accounting, we will keep things running until August 2nd. Then the real fun begins. Much like what your checkbook would look like with no money in it, the US will have a harder and harder time paying off their debt and running a functioning government. If you call your credit card company tomorrow and say, "sorry, I don't have any money to pay you, ever," I don't think they'll agree to your terms unless bankruptcy is in your future. Only, our government can't declare bankruptcy and China isn't going to just forget about the billions we owe them.

Eventually, like late payments on a credit card, the US is going to get walloped with interest that will swamp our national debt. Then there aren't going to be any jobs, or Social Security, or police or anything because we won't have any money to do anything about it and we'll be in a depression if we're lucky. The end result of not raising the debt ceiling is the equivalent of not paying any of your personal debt and not expecting any consequences from your actions. Does that sound smart to you?